6 months

As of last week, I have been in Japan for 6 months now. I'm halfway through my adventure. It's pretty hard to believe! I feel torn. As though, I just arrived but have also been here for eternity. Life here remains to be a constant roller coaster. Some days, I just don't want to leave Japan and some days I can barely leave my apartment because I feel so homesick. I have to admit though: I am in a much better place emotionally than I thought I would be at 6 months. I figured by the 6 month mark I would be over this whole experience. I would be homesick and stressed. I thought this would be my low point. While I do totally feel those things sometimes, I still have those wonderful moments when I have to pause, soak it all in, and just stand in disbelief thinking: THIS is my life. How amazing is it that I can just hang out in Tokyo when I feel like it. Call friends to go have a beer or go to karaoke. I may not have a million friends here, but I have learned to just travel by myself and be okay with it. I didn't expect that from myself. In America, I was a social butterfly. I always had friends to call or plans with my boyfriend. I never took myself out anywhere. After all, I thought, who goes to dinner and a movie by themselves? Maybe I've just grown to be more of a loner here. Maybe I just justify myself by thinking that I don't have many friends so what else am I supposed to do? Maybe I'm just more confident in myself. I was never the type of person to feel sorry for myself so I certainly wasn't going to let myself stay in all weekend and mope. I don't know if it just hasn't come yet, but I still don't feel like I've hit "the low point" with this job. I haven't just sat around all weekend sobbing from loneliness or just thrown my hands up at work and wanted to give up and go home. Is it sad that I would even expect that from myself? Or that I would expect every job that I have to make me feel that miserable? I'm kind of cautiously hopeful that I will never reach this point while I'm living here. It kind of makes me want to stay her for another year knowing how comfortable I am at the job. I genuinely enjoy it! But then, I remember all of the friends and family, people that I love, that I have for me back in Chicago and my heart aches. I miss everyone so much. I couldn't bear to be away for another year.

Let's do a quick rundown on some aspects of my time here.
1.) The job: I've really loved this job. I know a lot of my friends complain about it but I still think it is great. I get to work with a new group of kids everyday. About 75% of them even want to be there and want to learn. I've gotten used to the companies way of teaching things and can easily come up with lesson plans and props. I love it. I think it is a much better fit for me than my job in the States was. I also especially like not ever having to deal with parents lol
2.) Friends: While it has been MUCH more difficult than I thought it would be to make friends here, I do have a couple of good and wonderful people that I have befriended here. They are kind, adventurous, and open. We all are having common experiences with being foreigners in a strange land and that allows us to really bond I feel. I must admit though that this experience has really shown me how shy I can be. After college, you really don't have to try too hard to make new friends and I felt like I was rusty at it. I was shying away from people a reluctant to approach other foreigners who were just hanging out at the same bar as I was. I'm trying so hard to get out of my shell a bit more like I was in college and I've made a couple of new friends recently who have helped me feel more like I am accomplishing this goal. A part of this though is also that I have a boyfriend and many of the other foreign guys I meet are not looking for a friend. That shuts me off to meeting more new people right away. Let's just say this is still a work in progress.
3.) Travel: I've seen a lot of places and a lot of things. I'm pretty satisfied with where I have gone so far although I'm starting a list now of all the places I have yet to go and see. I hope this will motivate me to do more on the weekends.
4.) Language: This is one area that I am pretty disappointed in. I'm normally really good with languages. I can pick them up and understand then quickly. Hasn't been the case here. I just feel like I haven't learned much Japanese. I'm definitely happy that I can now understand at least all of the things that they ask you about at the convenience store but I most definitely cannot hold any semblance of a conversation in Japanese. I'm sure part of it is that I really am not exposed to too much Japanese. At work, everyone speaks English and I speak English all day. Surprisingly, I have learned to read a lot though! I think this is due to the trains. They have everything in English but sometimes I get bored and just start reading the signs in Japanese. I know somewhere between 150-200 kanji which is pretty impressive. A part of it is also my fault because I have not been actively studying...oh well...
5.) Food: What can I say about food? It's still awesome. I adore the food here. Japanese food rocks! I've tried so many new things and loved most of them. I'm pretty sure natto was the only unpleasant food experience I've had.

Family Visit Days 9 and 10: Goodbye!

After almost three weeks of them being gone, I am finally coming to the close of the stories from my family's stay. I wore them down pretty hard! On the 9th day, we had a pretty relaxing day. We got up late and rolled into Tokyo to visit a garden. We went to the Shinjuku Gyoen. It was beautiful and had many plants from all around the world! It was a nice find for someplace I could go strolling in the future. We mostly spent our whole day there wandering around.

The skyscraper district in the background

The traditional Japanese Gardens

More of the gardens

Fish!

Enjoying a picnic lunch

Yummy!

The French part of the garden

After the garden, we ran to see the Imperial Palace. My family was thoroughly disappointed in it though as you can't actually enter the palace grounds or get near the Palace. After that disappointment, we just headed back home.
The next day, we went back to Kamakura. We had missed a whole bunch of temples including my favorite temple in Kamakura, Hasedera. We saw the three most important Zen temples in Kamakura first. I'm not going to lie. I don't remember the names of these temples. This was actually the first time that I had been to the temples. They were beautiful with a very quiet and serene atmosphere.

The path up to one of the temples

Clearly have to come back here in the spring

A sacred bell

Another temple

Another bell

Such a stunning gate

After our hike around Kita-Kamakura, we headed over to one of my favorite temples in all of Japan, Hasedera. I had been bummed that we missed it on our first trip over to Kamakura and was very happy that they wanted to head back to it for our last day. It had a little bit of something for everyone! It had the history and feel of olden day Japan for my dad. A great garden for my mom. A wonderful view for my sister. A sacred cave for one of my brothers. And, well, I'm not too sure what Tom got out of it...Everyone thought it was a great way to end their stay in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Hello temple which I love

Sacred cave

What a view!

After our exciting day trip, we met up with a friend. My sister had a foreign exchange student as a roommate in college. She was from Japan and just so happened to live in the same prefecture as me! I called her and we met her at my station for some Japanese karaoke! Everyone had a blast singing their hearts out and catching up with Jenny's old roommate.

It was a fabulous end to a fabulous day. Later, I had to say goodbye to them and head off to work the next day. Goodbye family! You are missed! See you again in 6 months!

Family Visit: Days 8

By the eighth day in Japan, my family was getting pretty worn down! But we kept trekking and conquered a mountain, literally. Japan is a country that has many beautiful and scenic mountains. The family really wanted to give mountain climbing a try but Mt. Fuji was closed and covered in snow. So, I took them to the closest and easiest mountain in the Tokyo area: Mt. Takao. It was also a plus that I had hiked there before. We took the train and started our hike around 11:00. I thought it would take us about 4 hours all together about one and a half hours each way with a stop for a picnic lunch at the summit. We took a bit longer than expected to get to the summit but we made it!

We're off!

We made it! Checking out the view!

Triumphantly standing at the mountain top with Fuji in the background.

The hike back down is where things got a bit interesting...We started back down the main path. I knew that there was a temple on the way down but we didn't stop there the last time that I was at the mountain. It was a very large compound with many beautiful temples. It was dedicated to the god who fought the Tengu, a long nosed demon. It was very interesting to see all of these epic statues of the two of them in battle scattered around. The way down was also lined with sacred trees and a lucky octopus statue that we all stopped to touch for luck.

This is the god's shrine

Lucky statue!

A bit of perspective on the massiveness of these trees

After the temple side trip is where things got a bit interesting. We were going down the main path and came across a side path that led to a waterfall. After much debating, we decided to head down into the path. As we went farther and farther down, we started to get nervous. The sun was setting and we were on a path that wasn't even on the map guide. The path was also getting harder and harder. In a moment of slight panic, we split up. My siblings kept going towards the waterfall while my mom and I went on a path labeled as towards the station. In a random act of trail mapping, my mom and I ended up in the parking lot of a hospital. Luckily I was able to ask a bewildered nurse where the station was and I started to head that way while my mom stayed behind to watch for my siblings. As I headed down the road (I was literally walking in the street), I heard my siblings voices. They were on a different path that I could see from the road. I called out to them, grabbed my mom, and we found where their path ended into the street I was walking on. We just kept following the road and finally found the station! *phew* what an adventure!

Family Visit Day 7: Yokohama

Unfortunately, on the way over here, my Dad's luggage got lost over the way over to Japan. We had a couple of days of drama as the airline tried to locate where his luggage was. About 4 days later, they finally delivered it. Since they had to deliver it today, we decided to go somewhere close by. I only live about 40 minutes from Yokohama so we headed there as soon as my Dad's luggage arrived. We got a bit of a late start so our day out started with lunch by the ocean.

Yummy!

Our first stop of the day was Cosmo World an amusement park by the ocean! My family is really into theme parks and amusement parks so it seemed only natural that we would go. You have to pay by ride so each of us only went on two rides. We all went on the Ferris wheel because it is the biggest one in the world!

Huge and beautiful!

My brothers and sister went on Vanish. It was a diving roller coaster that supposedly dives into the sea. Now while we were well aware of the fact that it could not literally dive into the sea, they were disappointed as they pretty much just went through a chlorinated pool of water. Still, they enjoyed themselves.

The sign for the coaster

My mom, dad, and I went on the log flume ride which is supposedly the longest one in the world but it didn't feel too long. But like my siblings experience, it was still fun none the less. We all met up then to do the Ferris wheel together. We got on just as the sun was starting to set so we had a very pretty view!

The Landmark tower. The tallest building in Japan.

After Cosmo World, we headed towards the other end of town to see Yamashita Park and Chintown! Since it was dark and winter, we didn't spend too much time at the park. It does have a great view of the city and the ocean though.

The marine tower

Cosmo World and the Landmark Tower in the background

Family with the Marine Tower

Yamashita Park is right next to Chinatown so we hopped on over to the largest Chinatown in Japan for some dinner and sight-seeing.

Delicious dinner!

Signs getting ready for the New Year

My dumpling is shaped like a PANDA! I love it!

One of the temples.

I often forget how awesome Yokohama is even though it is so close to me. Thanks for reminding me family!

Family Trip Day 6: Kamakura

After 5 days in the big city of Tokyo, my family wanted to venture out into the suburbs a bit. I took them to the historical and beautiful city of Kamakura. Kamakura was the center of Japan during about the 1200s during the Kamakura era. First, we made a stop to Enoshima Island. I had never been to Enoshima before so I was very excited to see what people love about it. We had to walk a bridge to get to the island.

The bridge

The island

The streets were narrow and just lined with small restaurants, tourists shops, and fish markets. We walked up the main path and ran into a temple.

 From there we had a choice to: take the escalator (a paid service) or the stairs to explore the island. My Dad's knee is a little out of whack so we chose the escalator. It was a good life choice. We went up about 5 or 6 steep flights of escalators to get to the main attractions of the island. After two flights of stairs, we came to the main temple. The god at this temple is supposed to bring special luck to those in love. There were a ton of red and pink votives hung all over in trees as prayers for love.

There was a line to get in and pray as it was the day after New Years

There were dozens of these racks all filled up

We then made our way up higher to get to the gardens. We stopped on the way to sit above the sea and have lunch. Also, there was a comedy show going on in front of the gardens so we stopped to check that out. Japanese humor is so funny! They do a lot of slapstick and facial expressions.

The view from lunch

After our detours, we got to the gardens. Needless to say, in the middle of winter there were some plants and trees but most were dead. It was still interesting to see though! The garden dead ends into the Sea Candle an observatory deck for Kamakura. On really clear good days you can see Fuji and sometimes all the way to Tokyo. Lucky for us, it was actually a clear day! Mom was ecstatic to get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji! It was super windy up there though but way worth it!

The Sea Candle

Kamakura

Mt. Fuji

We glanced down at our watches and panicked a bit because there was still one thing that we had to see before leaving Kamakura: the Daibutsu (Great Buddha). See, almost all historical places here close by 5 and it was already 3:15 and we still had to get back to the train and take the train to Hase. We sprinted to the train. We got on the train just in time. We took the historical rail line called the Endo line. We got fantastic views of the sun setting over the island and Fuji.

Enoshima Island

Fuji

As soon as the train hit the station, my brother and I literally ran to get some tickets to see the Daibutsu. We got there just in time! They told us we had 10 minutes which was fine by us! My family gasped when they saw it. It really is awesome to behold. It was especially interesting for me too since I'd never been there at close. We were the last ones there. It was so cool to be the only ones with this massive presence.

The family with the Great Buddha

Not a soul there except us...

We headed back to Fujisawa to catch our train and had dinner at an Italian restaurant where I proudly was able to read about 85% of the katakanna for the family. It was a very fun and educational day for the family.

My brother with the Endo line historical train :)